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NantMobile Money Reader

Category:

Description of App:

NantMobile Money Reader instantly recognizes currency and speaks the denomination, enabling people experiencing visual impairments or blindness to quickly and easily identify and count bills. Point the camera of your iOS device at a bill and the application will tell you the denomination in real-time. Twenty one currencies are supported: the US Dollar, Australian Dollar, Bahraini Dinar, Brazilian Real, Belarusian Ruble, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Euro, Hungarian Forint, Israeli Shekel, Indian Rupee, Japanese Yen, Kuwaiti Dinar, Mexican Peso, New Zealand Dollar, Polish Zloty, Russian Ruble, Saudi Arabian Riyal, Singapore Dollar, and United Arab Emirates Dirham.

Featuring our patented and proprietary recognition technology, the NantMobile Money Reader makes it as easy to recognize bills as possible. There’s no need to hold the iOS device still or capture a photo and wait for a result. Recognition happens instantly--in real-time. The app does not require an internet connection, which means it will read money at any location, and at anytime.

NantMobile Money Reader is a helpful mobile assistant that’s simple and easy to use. While shopping, use the application to verify money while checking out or to ensure you are getting the right amount of change back. It can be used to quickly and easily sort money with independence and confidence. The denomination is also displayed on the iOS device's in high contrast large numerals, for those having sufficient vision to make use of the display.

Disclaimer: This app should not be used to detect counterfeit currency or be solely relied upon for money identification. The app should be used with discretion, to ensure privacy, as it both announces denominations, and displays denominations in large print. The built-in light on many iOS devices may sufficiently illuminate currency to make it visible for some distance away.

Apple Watch Support:

No

Version:

2.6

Free or Paid:

Free

Device(s) App Was Tested On:

iPhone

iOS Version:

11.0.1

Accessibility Comments:

This app is very accessible and works very quickly.

VoiceOver Performance:

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling:

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability:

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

58 Comments

I forgot to add that this app works even if you have your screen curtain on, and even if you are not holding your iPhone very steady, although it may take a few seconds more to recognize and announce the bill if this is the case. Your bills do not have to be in any particular orientation, nor do they have to be completely separated. The app also worked accurately and reproducibly on bills that were folded in half or in thirds, where only part of the bill was visible, though identification may take longer. It also works on crumpled bills. If you have a pile of overlapping notes, arranged in a fan, and slowly move the camera from left to right, it will announce different denominations. However, it will continue to repeat the denomination of the bill currently in its field ("$1", "$1", etc.) until shifted onto another target, so you may want to process your notes separately. Also, the camera stays on and active as long as the app is running in the foreground, so remember to click the Home button when you're done to turn the camera off and exit the app.

Esther, thanks for reviewing this app, it works exactly as you described, I am very pleased to finally find a solid money recognition app for the iPhone (it's even better and easier to use than any hardware solution I've tried) , I tried it with different lighting conditions and angles and it seems to work every time, I gotta say this is a must have app, here's hoping their upcoming accessibility apps are as good as this one.

This app also works with the second generation iPad which, like the iPod Touch 4G, has a camera. We speculated this was true, but the original app was released before the iPad 2 debuted. The developers of LookTel confirmed this information at CSUN, and also mentioned that they plan to add a vibration mode in the next version of the app for deaf blind user accessibility, and that subsequent release versions will add support for Canadian and UK currencies, in response to feedback and requests.

The latest update to LookTel Money Reader (v. 2.2, November 29, 2011) brings performance gains in speed and accuracy. This appears to resolve issues some users had with the version 2.0 update which, although it brought support for recognizing international currencies, slowed down the speed of recognition. The improved performance applied to all currencies I tried (U.S., Canadian, Australian, and Euros -- no Pound notes currently.) Since version 2 of LookTel, you turn the mute switch on if you want denominations reported as tones instead of announced. One dollar is a single, low tone. Five dollars are three low tones. Ten dollars is a single, short high blip. Twenty dollars is two short, high blips. Fifty Euros gives three short, high blips. The app will announce the bills with or without VoiceOver turned on, but will leave off qualifiers if VoiceOver is not turned on (e.g. just "10 dollars" instead of "10 Canadian dollars" or "10 Australian dollars"; but will use distinct voices for each country's currency, although speaking speed is fixed.)

Only blip I noticed is that it doesn't recognize the brand new Canadian plastic money - the $100 bills just came out and I got a couple for Christmas. Tried to have the app recognize them out of curiosity but no go - didn't expect it to since it's new. And not sure if Money Reader would recognize a regular paper $100 bill? Has anyone tried?

I'm sure LookTell will update eventually once the more common bills crop up. As it is, the plastic money has Braille on it. I think the $50, $20, $10 and $5 are coming out in consecutive years.

However, in the UK the RNIB make this note detector and it is only priced at £1.25, so im guessing nomore than $2 in the US right? so for me there is a cheaper option and I guess thats why im reluctant to buy the app. All you have to do is hold your note against the plastic and once it is securely in place you can detect the note by feeling where the note ends on the note detector. Plus in the USA, is all your money given as notes? because in the UK we have pounds which is a whole lot easier too as they are different shapes etc

But will defo check out the looktell recogniser:) and wow u have to pay $130 for the penfriend labeller? it's only £60 in the UK. but I guess that adds up at the end of the day, coz by the time it is converted into your currency and postage costs are included then it will probs add up to the same amount.

ARE other money reading apps such as the Voicy money reading app just as efficient as the look tell money reader? Obviously the look tell reader is over priced and this particular one is $6.99. Has anyone had any experience with this, or have any suggestions?

I wish people would stop complaining about the pricing of apps. Looking towards adaptive technology pricing apps are compatible compared to pricing within the adaptive technology system of products. Remember this code monkey needs fritos.

I wouldn't mind paying 7 pounds for the app if it was accurate but when i have tried with a 20 pound note, it keeps telling me that it is 200 euros. it works well with 10 pound notes but with 5 pounds it just goes silent. i really struggle to get it to recognise notes and keep experimenting with different lighting and moving the phone nearer and further away at different angles still with no joy. i am very disappointed.

Here is the current list of currencies recognized by LookTel Money Reader:Australian DollarBahraini DinarBrazilian RealBelarusian RubleBritish Pound (including new 50 Pound note)Canadian Dollar (including new 20, 50 & 100 notes)EuroHungarian ForintIsraeli ShekelIndian RupeeJapanese YenKuwaiti DinarMexican PesoNew Zealand DollarPolish ZlotyRussian RubleSaudi Arabian RiyalSingapore DollarUnited Arab Emirates DirhamUnited States DollarA quick test on my iPhone 5: the recognition for U.S. dollars seems just as speedy as before. The 20 Euro note was a bit slow when i tried this on one side (the back side of the note?), and faster when I flipped it over. (This was the 20 Euro note in contrast with the 5, 10, and 50 Euro notes, which were more easily recognized in my tests.) I found the previous version, that I still have on my iPhone 4, was a bit more responsive on the Euro notes. I still find the LookTel Money Reader app faster than alternative recognizer apps that use the iPhone camera. Will try out with other currencies when I get a chance.

I heard about this app and I crushed my keyboard to go to the app store. But when I found it... eur 8,99. Are we crazy? Of course they have to earn money, I understand this things don't grow out of air. But this price is so mad. Maybe if the price included both mac and iPhone apps, but 8,99 each? No thanks.
Of course I need things like this, but paying means accepting superiority of a small group.
Also, some people complained about its accuracy. I will get it from a promo or something, if any.

erm, it couldn't be more accurate if it tried. lol. works perfectly here. but i do know what you mean about cost. seems a bit much for something that just recognises certain items that pass in front of it. but there you go.

I have had no issues with accuracy.
It would be nice though if the developers tried to add more currencies, as it can already recognize quite a few, would be great if a universal currency ID app was eventually available.
Also thinking about it, I would suggest another useful feature might be if it could also look up exchange rates, so for example you could set the app up so that if you waved a note in front of it it could tell you the denomination of note and then announce what that would be worth in your home currency, just an idea.
But even having the ability to access exchange rates through the app would be nice, as I haven't found a totally simple accessible exchange rate checker.

I think the price is well worth it. They did say they were going to raise th price to cover the cost of supporting a lot of currencies so I'm all for it and it's all worth it. As for an accessible currency app use currency converter. I will link you to a podcast I did months ago detailing this very accessible exchange rate app.

I can't say don't update up the new version 2.4.1 but since updated to LookTel version the app crashed making impossible to use it.
I don't know what's wrong with but can't use it whenever try to opening crash getting to the home screen I been using closing it with app switcher, rebooting the device and finally reinstalling from the app store without good results.
I'm using iPhone 5S running iOS8.1
please let us know your experience with.

With this latest update, I wold urge iPhone 5 users to try the program to see if, after updating to IOS 8.1, the program works as well as it used to under iOS 7. Since I now have an iPhone 6, and Money Reader is working well for me, I am afraid I am not going to be a good test subject for this.

Hi Salman and Marrie.
nothing happens not matter what iOS version you are running on the iPhone 5S device
the only word to describe what happens is impossible to use.
looks like this new update affects only iPhones 5S
I'm using an 5S running iOS8.1
Thanks at iTunes back up I could recover the previous LookTel version.

While the previous version of this app worked fine on my iPhone 5S under IOS 8.1, this latest release of the app (version 2.4.1) launches then immediately closes.
Standard troubleshooting steps did not fix the issue (kill the app via the app switcher and relaunch, delete and reinstall the app, reset the iPhone, etc).
ATT iPhone 5S
IOS 8.1(12B411).
I've sent a note to info@looktel.com and hope others experiencing the issue will do the same.

updated on November 13 2013
Looks like the new version works again on iPhone 5S devices
I couldn't find the new update searching on google to update the new features.
but say something about support for iOS7 and iOS8
Should you try to update and see What's new bring to your device
this version fix the issues with the iPhone 5S crashes.

Indonesia is a potential market for LookTel Money Reader. Indonesia is a country with about 250 million people of which over 2 million are blind or partially sighted. More and more blind people in Indonesia are using iPhone, and so to have Indonesian Rupiah in the list of currencies to be identified by LookTel is a benefit for both the blind in Indonesia and the developer of the app. Please add IDR in LookTel's repertoire.

I totally agree with the statement above. We really need this app to support our daily activity. I'm really sure that even we have to pay to use this app, we will buy it, as long as the function is useful & we could get more benefit from this app. Anyway, please give a reasonable price also for us & hope to hear a good respond from you.

Well seance to changed name but the app for iOS has been updated
Money Reader
What's New in Version 2.5
This version includes updated currency notes, 64-bit support, bug fixes, and general improvements.